


The Fight For and Against Marriage

by Mystickit



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Blood, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra Shiro (Voltron), Keith is Yurak, Lance is Loncce, M/M, Shiro is Shiram, Shiro looses an arm, Temporary Name Changes, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-04 10:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17303327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystickit/pseuds/Mystickit
Summary: (so the title is whatever)Galra prince Yurak (Keith) and Altean Prince Loncce (Lance) are promised to marry each other to help keep the peace between the Alteans and the Galra empire, except they hate each other and each others race, on the day of their promising the ceremony is interrupted by a large scale attack on the castle, Loncce and Yurak escape through a broken wormhole and end up crashing on Earth, now they have to trust their saviors, avoid capture and find their way back to their families, all while realizing they might not really dread marrying each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my first real work on this site, so i would appreciate any advice or tips you feel i should know, or just offer constructive criticism were appropriate.
> 
> so quick explanation on the names; basically i needed non-human names so i chose Lances name as an alternative spelling of how Allura pronounces it, Keith i chose the name Krolia would have given him, and i just made a similar sounding name for Shiro, the names will go back to human later on.
> 
> thank you for reading and any advice you give, enjoy.

In the endless sea of stars Yurak only saw the dull purple of his sleeping quarters ceiling, he didn’t feel like leaving to socialize, to nod his thanks at the various crew members or worse face the royal tailors to triple check his clothing’s fit, instead he’d rather be on Daibazaal Beta, running through his combat skills with his brothers and watching the huge red sun vanish beneath the horizon, but no, he was stuck in a capital ship heading towards his doom.

Of course this would be a little less painful if he weren’t marrying the Crown Prince of Altea; large swaths of Yuraks history lessons in his childhood had consisted of learning of past wars, their victories and failures, and about half of those were about the Altean / Galra Wars. The Altean / Galra Wars were a 10,000 year long drawn out battle between the Alteans and their allies against the Galra, it only ended after Yuraks father, Emperor Zarkon, betrothed his oldest son Lotor to the Altean King Alfor’s daughter Allura.

Now among rising tensions between the Alteans and the Galra had led to another betrothal, Prince Yurak of the Galra and Prince Loncce of Altea. Of course Yurak wasn’t able to protest this sudden marriage as he had to follow his father’s will. Just as Yurak was considering using an escape pod to get out his door opened, Yurak looked over to see his older brother standing there in his armor, Shiram was Yuraks brother by adoption so he had no real claim to the throne but he was still Yuraks closest friend and sparring companion.

Yurak sat up as Shiram raised an eyebrow “still moping around? If you don’t stop you’ll create a self fulfilling possibility you know” he advised Yurak sighed “how much worse can it get? I’m going to marry an Altean on order of our father, no amount of hoping is gonna change it” he complained, Shiram sighed stepping more into Yuraks quarters “then at least try to look on the bright side, you saw how happy Lotor is with the princess” he tried again, Yurak shook his head “Princess Allura was tolerable for an Altean, but the Prince is the most selfish, conceited being I’ve ever met” he explained Shiram smiled “sounds like a great match” he teased, Yurak frowned and hurled a pillow at Shiram who caught it with ease “come on, enough sulking, let’s go spar a bit” he suggested, Yurak finally smiled and stood “thought you’d never ask”

\----------------------------------------------------------

On the other side of the universe Loncce was on the run, fleeing for his life, more realistically however he was running through the castle trying to avoid the Royal tailors, the ceremony was only a few weeks away and he still didn’t have his suit ready, not that he cared however, he wasn’t about to merry some disgusting Galra murderer.

Speaking of Galra, Loncce was looking behind him as he turned a corner, running into a wall of Steele; bouncing back he groaned and looked to see none other then Lotor looking down at him but before Loncce could get to his feet and run the older Half-Galran grabbed him “Allura dear, I’ve got him” he yelled out, Loncce cursed “oh quiznak, come on, let go” he struggled against his Brother in laws grip as his sister approached “Loncce! Stop playing around and get dressed!” she ordered, following Lotor holding the struggling Loncce until they reached the tailors who snatched Loncce before he had time to escape and wrestle him to a stool.

Once Loncce was restrained Allura sighed and accepted Lotors arm around her shoulders as Loncce complained “I’m not playing, I’m not getting married to a Galra” he said, Lotor visibly frowned while Allura bristled “Loncce, I won’t have you disrespecting my husband or our allies” she challenged, Lotor rubbed her shoulder “it okay Allura, it’s not easy to suddenly be married, you remember the first few weeks of our marriage right? We weren’t much better then Loncce now” he said, Allura smiled at the memory before sighing “I guess you’re right” she admitted.

Loncce gagged in defiance as he let himself be measured and color checked, well aware that his darker skin and hair devoid of the normal Altean Royal white color would require different colors to match correctly. At Loncces face Allura and Lotor looked at each other, seemingly talking silently before Lotor let his arm drop “now that Loncce has been captured I’m going to oversee the process for welcoming my Father and the rest of the Galra party” he said, kissing Allura goodbye before leaving.

  
By now Loncce was allowed to sit while the tailors worked in the background, Allura chose to sit in the chair across from him “Loncce, I know this isn’t want you expected, or wanted, but you need to take this seriously, if you and the Galran Prince don’t marry we could be plunged into war again” he tried to explain.

Loncce sighed, shoulders falling a bit “no offense Allura, but you were supposed to be the one who’d merry a Galra then I’d become a pilot like I trained to, not play house with a conceited killer” Allura frowned at his words “you can still be a pilot, marriage doesn’t mean your life’s ended” she tried, Loncce shrugged “maybe that’s how it is with Lotor but this is Yurak we’re talking about, no doubt once we’re married he’s going to try to rule my life, and what am I supposed to do? Divorce? Plunge the universe into war again?” he asked.

The pair were silent again as the tailor got Loncce to stand again to try on a rough cut of his suit, Loncce letting himself get manhandled and Allura standing to the side, unsure what to say “want to hear how Lotor bravely fought off the evil malfunctioning food processor?” she asked, smile creeping up, Loncce looked up surprised “what do you think?” he asked, Allura laughed and started relaying how Lotor got covered head to toe in food in breakfast.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Yurak pulled at his collar anxiously, he was much more comfortable in his armor or in loose practice clothes, but he walked at his father’s side as they exited the capital ship, they were greeted by King Alfor, Allura, Lotor and other high ranking officials, first the king and Zarkon greeted another then their children, then Lotor gave a friendly pat to Yurak who did the same thing. He and Lotor weren’t actually that close since they were both sent away to train and learn so they only really interacted in official situations such as this.

Once the pleasantries were done they were led to their guest rooms and left to get ready for dinner, in his room Yurak looked around the gleaming white walls, frankly they hurt his eyes so blinking he stepped over to the window, leaning against it to see out at the rolling green fields and dark leaves trees blowing in the wind, okay he had to admit, Altea Beta was a pretty nice planet, it made him wonder was Altea Alpha was like, but there was no way to know as nearly 5,000 years ago t was destroyed by the Galra themselves in retaliation for their planet, Daibazaal Alphas destruction.

Yuraks ponderings were interrupted by two people, the first was a dark skinned, dark haired Altean dashing out followed by an older white haired Altean, it finally registered to Yurak that they were King Alfor and Prince Loncce. Yurak watched them, they were too far away to over hear their conversation but he could see both members tense forms, they seemed to be arguing over something, maybe the prince stole a cookie.

As he watched Yurak began looking over his soon to be ‘husband’, ick; that left such a bad taste in his mouth. Of course Yurak and Loncce had known each other years ago, the young princes often accompanying their fathers in peace talks were they were paired together to play, thinking back now Yurak had to be appreciative at the fact that Loncce, who had once been a chubby, slow little child had grown thin but lean, he held himself just as pompously as before but according to the information Yurak had begged Shiram to give him, the young prince was pretty handy with a gun.

As the conversation seemed to die down Yurak caught himself, he couldn’t be complimenting the selfish kid, after all it was Loncce who started trouble, roping Yurak in then leaving him to get punished, the Galra Prince-ling sighed as he watched the king leave, Loncce standing defiant until he just sat down, arms around his knees.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Loncce didn’t think he’s ever felt so angry; his father had cornered him, scolding him for not accompanying the welcoming, and in the argument Loncce had elected to just leave, if he stayed any longer he would have blown up, but of course his Father followed, used to Loncces mood swings.

Now the argument was over, his father had decided he would go through with the marriage, leaving Loncce fuming and upset in the field around the back of the castle, while calming down his eyes raked the castle in front of him, freezing whjen they saw Yurak standing by the window, the Galrans head was turned the opposite way, watching the activities of everyone getting last minute detailed done, it allowed Loncce to observe the young Prince.

Loncce always remembered the angry, proud Galran who often was forced to play with him, he was always short and scrawny so it was a surprise to see him filled out, even from this distance Loncce could see his broad shoulders and no doubt muscled arms. Then again Loncce thought, of course Yurak would be stronger now, if he remembered right Galra had a strong dominate weak mentality, which meant in Yurak wasn’t strong he would lose his right to be a prince, he had to admit it sounded harsh.

Loncce blinked as he saw Yurak turn, greeting some unknown figure as he vanished from the window, what was wrong with him? Yurak was nothing but trouble, always showing him up, acting all goody two shoes around their fathers, Loncce scoffed as he stood, wiping grass off his clothes as he started to head inside, he had to get ready for the dinner.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Only a couple hours later and the dinner party was underway, Yurak fidgeted in his red suit, his blood colored cape heavy on his shoulders as he greeted the high ranking officials making small talk, his armor was too light to act as more then decoration, a thing that unsettled the young Galra Warrior, seeing his shifting Shiram came over “getting anxious to see your fiancé?” he teased, Yurak frowned and punched his arm, careful to not attract attention “I don’t like this” he explained Shiram smiled, holding his drink “you never did like formal parties, I hear you have that in common with Prince Loncce” Yurak turned to him with a glare “don’t even joke about that” he threatened, Shiram just laughed.

Across the party Loncce stuck close to Allura, the princess seamlessly blending into the crowd before rounding on Loncce “if you keep following me like a lost yalnak, Loncce, you’ll make a bad impression on Yurak” she warned, the younger Prince scrunched his face “I don’t care, I hate being here Allura, you see the looks they give me right?” he tried, Allura frowned, it was no secret that Loncces brown hair was strange in the royal family who always had white hair, so it meant people often talked about it, spreading rumors.

“That’s no excuse; once you’re married you’ll have to attend even more of these meetings, often with Yurak next to you” she explained, Loncce groaned, standing up “plus, you look like a true Prince in your Suit, show it off” she encouraged. And okay Loncce had to admit he looked good, his white and blue suit was crisp and commanding, his short cape was folded over his primary arm and he just looked good, the blue standing out as his color.

The party went well, both Princes made a point to ignore one another throughout the dinner, both staying silent, during the social gathering afterwards however they didn’t have a choice, they were silently ordered to stand next to each other, Yurak leaning against the wall and Loncce standing a bit away, arms folded, almost pouting. Finally after facing his fathers scathing gaze Yurak looked at Loncce “so….what’s up?” he opened, Loncce glared at him “nothing you need to know about” he said, Yurak frowned.

“Look Loncce, I’m not exactly happy about this either, but all we have to do it act civil, get married then we can live in totally different planets” Loncce looked back at him “I’m not marrying you, I hate you, your Father and your entire race” Yurak pushed himself away from the wall, teeth grit and bared “screw you Altean! I hate your kind too” he growled, the two were in each other’s faces, Yurak reaching for his non-existent sword and Loncce reaching back for his own rifle he wasn’t carrying.

Fortunately Shiram and Allura diffused the situation, stepping between their respective siblings and pulling then further away from the party “what is wrong with you two?” Allura asked, the Princes pointed to each other and spoke in near unison “I refuse to marry him!” then loked at eachother, their glares trying to pierce each other.

The older siblings deflated, looking at each other before Shiram spoke “you guys are being ridiculous, just shut up, get promised tonight then don’t kill each other, stop throwing a fit” Allura joined in “a betrothal marriage is born out of necessity, it doesn’t matter if you guys want to or not” she added. The Princes just folded their arms and looked away from each other, refusing to even acknowledge each other anymore.

The rest of the night passed peacefully, the Princes avoided each other like the plague and no more conflicts occurred. That night both Princes got admonished by their fathers but didn’t care, the real event would be tomorrow, were they would receive their promise rings to seal their betrothal, after tomorrow they couldn’t break their ties anymore, suffice to say neither of them slept much.

\----------------------------------------------------------

The next morning dawned bright, the fields next to the castle were decorated and visiting dignitaries enjoyed the warm sun as the families prepared for the ceremony, neither of the princes were allowed to see each other so that at least made the final preparations worth it, both wearing different suits then the previous night they waited in the wings until the large bell rang, alerting everyone to gather for the promising ceremony.

The ceremony was taking place in the large formal room, richly upholstered chairs were very quickly being claimed, the watchers murmured to each other until an old Altean walked to the center of the inlaid circle, raising a hand he silenced the room before speaking, his voice loud and commanding despite his fragile nature.

“Our honored guests! We thank you for coming to witness the promising ceremony between the Crown Prince of Altea and the Prince of Daibazaal” he started, pausing to allow for light applause before moving on “this union has been planned for almost 2 years, and comes only 9 years after our princess Allura was wed to prince Lotor, sealing peace between the two great civilizations” again he paused to let the cheering subside.

As the officiator continued Loncce and Yurak watched each other from opposite sides of the room, both wondering just how long the old man would talk, when not listening to the officiator they were secretly looking over each other, the ceremony required them to wear their ceremonial armor, again their color schemes matched them, the Loncce wore the Altean white and blue, gleaming in the light, Yurak wore the dark purple armor of his people cut with red and black, but unlike Loncces shiny armor his was just imposing, sharp and strong that would look awkward of anyone other than a Galra.

Finally they were ready, at the officiators beckoning the two approached each other, there was an audible gasp as they appeared in their armors; then they stood across from one another, eyes down at the officiator who once again started speaking, Yurak fought not to roll his eyes. But thankfully this time was shorter as the officiator held up two inch wide bracelets and instructed the Princes to remove their gauntlets. Then he offered each Prince one of the Bracelets, the Princes observed them as the officiator started to monologue again.

In Yuraks hand the bracelet was obviously meant for Loncce, the white metal had engraved words in blue ‘To Protect Our Loved Ones, And The Universe’ how cheesy, but he did marvel at the fine craftsmanship and how light the cold metal was. Loncce was observing his bracelet built like the one Yurak was holding but was jet black with a red inscription engraved ‘To Lead And To Protect The Universe’ now that was pretentious.

The Ceremony itself was rather quick for its long build up, together the princes were instructed to say a sentence as they put the bracelet on each other, Yurak started first, holding the bracelet “I, Prince Yurak of the Galra Empire promise myself to marriage to Prince Loncce of Altea” slipping on the bracelet they both watched as it shrunk to snuggly fit Loncces wrist before it was the other princes turn.

But Loncce froze, he stared at the bracelet on his arm and the other in his hand with wide eyes, it just struck him that this was it, once he did this, there was no going back, tears pricked his eyes as he weighed his thoughts, after this he had to get married, one day he’d probably have to put aside his own goals to raise children, to play the good husband to a murderous Galra. Loncce jumped a bit at a soft touch on his arm, looking up he locked eyes with Yurak, he didn’t know what to expect but he certainly wasn’t expecting to see the almost soft look in the other princes’ eyes.

Yurak had long steeled himself to do this ceremony, he absolutely hated it but he was a good prince, a good Galra warrior, but seeing Loncces hesitance caused his own moment of doubt, and when he saw the beginning of tears in Loncces eyes he froze, an unfamiliar feeling of protection that he kept restrained, instead he reached out, touching Loncces arm in…he didn’t even know what he was doing or why he did but meeting Loncces eyes the Altean blinked his tears away and straightened up, seemingly emboldened as he spoke “I, Prince Loncce of Altea promise myself to marriage to Prince Yurak of the Galra Empire” he shoved the bracelet onto Yuraks wrist with more force than necessary but it was done, the officiator proclaimed them promised and everyone applauded.

An hour later the party had started again, new cheer was around as everyone congratulated the young couple who still kept their distance from one another. Loncce immediately found Allura and their father who kept telling Loncce how proud he was before wandering off to talk with other officials, Allura was smiling as she hugged her brother, still wearing his full armor “oh I’m so proud of you Loncce” her joy was real so Loncce found himself relaxing, knowing it was genuine “thanks Allura….I still hate him, but I guess I’m stuck now” he sighed.

Allura laughed. Loncce looked around “hey where’s Lotor? I didn’t see him in the crowd or in the hall” he asked Allura took a look around “I don’t know, before he said he had to leave because he felt sick, he’s probably in our quarters resting” she reasoned, Loncce nodded and their topic moved on.

Yurak was against a wall, Shiram grinning at him “you did it, I’m proud if you Yurak” Yurak smiled at his brother “I was just doing my job, victory or death right?” Shiram frowned “maybe don’t say that in front of your new husband” he advised, Yurak laughed, all the pressure gone and a feeling of elation he rarely felt at home filled him.

\----------------------------------------------------------

In the dark castle shapes moved quickly, they expertly avoided the guards and the wandering guests, they passed up the expensive trinkets that would let them live comfortably, instead they separated, hiding above the ongoing party, in the shadows one pair of yellow eyes scanned the floor below before spotting their target, shifting a little the figure pointed to the Altean prince then over to the Galra prince, for this group had but one mission they prized above even their own survival: kill the princes.

\----------------------------------------------------------

The party was unaware of the group plotting above them, not even the well trained and experienced guards noticed anything as they talked to each other, waiting until their shift was over, and in fact no one noticed as two members pulled out their knives, with perfect synchronism they threw their kives at their targets, aiming for the vulnerable necks, fortunately not everyone was oblivious, seeing the knife flying towards Yurak Shiram leapt, tackling his brother with a shout as the knife hit the wall, everyone turned and Loncce did just enough that the knife bounced off his armor, leaving a sizable dent as he stumbled.

Despite their surprise the calls of assassin went up, filling the castle as attendees ducked and ran, screaming from the hall. Yurak struggled up, checking Shiram who pulled him closer, both looking up as guards fired at the ceiling, scattering the gathered assassins, Shiram cursed before grabbing Yurak, pulling him to follow him through the crowd, it was no coincidence they attacked the prince when there were other higher ranking targets, including the king and emperor.

But their troubles were just starting, merely a minute after the start off the attack the castle was rocked by a large explosion, Loncce, recovering from his shock looked out the window in aw, the once clear sky around the castle was filled with giant ships he didn’t recognize, he heard the screams and saw the shield start to go up but not before several ships broke their way in, firing as members of them dropped down, killing anything they could reach, Loncce was ripped away from the window by Shiram, still holding Yurak he started dragging them down the hall but they struggled “no, I have to find Allura!” “I have to fight” but he ignored them, his grip too firm for them to twist out of.

But Shiram showed mercy and threw them against the wall, still holding both of them “enough, Allura’s safe, but we need to get you guys off the planet, I think they’re after you two” he explained Yurak spoke up “then let me fight, victory or death” he demanded, Shiram shook his head “not yet, your fathers ordered me to make sure you two are safe, which means we’re using a wormhole to go to Allura and Lotors planet, Coran said he was full defenses up so everyone’s going to converge there.” He explained.

They were still in the halls when a wall was bashed next to them, causing them all to stumble back as an attacker stepped through, he wore no identifying marks and aimed his rifle right at the princes, but he made a mistake ignoring Shiram who charged forward, tackling the attacker and restraining him “you two! Get to the Altean ships, that’s an order: Yurak, get prince Loncce to the ship safely” he looked right in Yuraks eyes, the younger Galra froze in hesitance before narrowing them “yes brother” he complied, grabbing Loncce and running, leaving Shiram to hold off the attacker.

But of course Loncce wasn’t about to go peacefully, as soon as he realized he was being dragged along he planted his feet “get off me” he twisted, causing Yurak to fall back into him, but not releasing his grip on Loncces arm. Loncce started trying to twist his way out “I’m not leaving, not while my people are dying” he said, Yurak grit his teeth “we don’t have a choice, we were told to leave, I was told to carry your tiny ass to safety so that what I’m going to do” he growled, lunging forward to lift Loncce onto his shoulder, resuming his run to the ships.

Loncce couldn’t do much against the much stronger Galra but that didn’t mean he was submissive, he yelled and kicked, punched Yuraks back and shoulders, trying to tip him over. But the other prince was firm as rock when he entered the ship bay, unfortunately they weren’t safe yet, Loncce saw the sniper taking aim and shouted, causing Yurak to almost throw him down to cover him, hissing as the shot just burned his arm.

“Go, get in the ship” he ordered as the assassin came down, Yurak pulled his own knife, transforming it into a blade to defend against the assassins own sword, they traded blows until Yurak finally managed to slash the assassin, causing it to collapse as Loncce told him the ship was ready, turning Yurak pulled himself in, sealing the cockpit and starting up, already the castle was creating wormholes for escaping ships, so they aimed towards the closest one.

Yurak had taken the controls, pushing the engine as they were zeroed in on, he managed to dodge the lasers well enough until he was forced to go straight to go through the wormhole, now that he wasn’t dodging an laser hit them just as they entered the wormhole, wrecking their ship and unknown to them the wormhole too.

But the wormhole closed behind them, the attacking ships turned to rejoin the main attack, in the distance the castles spires fell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiram and Allura deal with the rest of the attack, and Yurak and Loncce meet Hunk and Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone for showing interest in this, i'll strive to do this more often

Shiram was breathing heavily, his clothes were soaked with blood as he faced his opponent, his first opponent he had killed relatively easily but before he could run after the princes another attacker faced him, this one seemed more aware of who they were fighting, keeping its distance after each attack, but Shiram wasn’t finished, baring his teeth he once again used his sword, borrowed from his first opponent to charge forward, putting pressure on the mysterious attacker as they traded blows, his opponent seemed to favor hand to hand more, their sharp metal claws holding the blade and swiping to catch on Shirams already broken skin.

That wasn’t to say Shiram was helpless, already he’s hit the figure twice, once cutting its leg and the other slicing across its shoulder, but neither of them were killing blows, and in return Shiram was aware of the three claw marks crossing his chest, with one long dragged cut on his arm where he had to block against it tearing out his throat, but he still held firm as they separated once again, the whole time Shiram had been trying to figure out at least what species his attacker was, but everywhere he touched he felt only hard muscles and armor, it had no tail and its mask was a blank white canvas now splashed with blood, even its hood refused to move or be pulled down.

But it didn’t matter, by now the battle was in full tilt, the castle around them rumbled and crumbled with each hit, the distant sound of fighting was a background hum as they clashed again, each swing of Shirams blade was stopped by the attacker, and it was only thanks to his experience and training he avoided having the metal claws sink into his unguarded side. But Shiram was patient, eventually his attacker would tire with him, leaving themselves open to attacks.

\----------------------------------------------------------

In the initial attack Allura had gotten separated from Loncce and her guards, she ran through the halls until she saw the princes in Shirams grip as they all ran off, good….now she needed to move. Allura moved fast, removing her ornate shoes to increase her speed, running barefoot down the now empty hall, Lotor was probably still in their room, best case scenario he was aware of the attack, was armed and seeking answers, worst case he’s either too sick to move…or he was…..no, Lotor was a strong warrior, her husband, he was fine.

Never the less she made her way to their room, gasping heavily she looked in, strange, it looked no different than when they’d left this morning, the bed with nicely made, their clothes still in the laundry pile, no new clothes taken out, which meant…Lotor had never gone back to their room, was he sidetracked?

Allura didn’t have time to wonder as a thunderous explosion racked the castle, reminding Allura they were still under attack, but before she could make a move to run she stopped, she could have sworn she’d heard something, listening closer he heard a voice, it sounded like Lotor.

Filled with relief she started jogging towards the voice, her greeting however died on her tongue as she finally heard the conversation

“-two squadrons, but the castles defenses are higher than we expected sir”

“Then expected? I told you what to expect, it’s your fault for using less forces then I said to”

Dread filled Allura as he peeked around the corner; it only deepened when she saw Lotor, standing with his face hard and in front of his was one of the attackers, a shorter figure in black robes and a blank white mask, this couldn’t be right, this meant Lotor…

Shocked and in disbelief she tried to take a step back but accidentally stepped on a bit of debris, her bare feet offered no protection as she hissed in pain, falling back to see the blood starting to well, she also realized the conversation was stopped, turning to the side her heart skipped a beat, both Lotor and the masked figure were staring at her, the air grew cold as Lotor turned to her, his usual warm smile looked false, cold and calculating “Allura my dear, how unexpected” he said, there must have been an invisible signal because the masked figure dashed forward with incredible speed, clawed hand reaching for Allura who still couldn’t believe her gentle, noble Lotor would do this.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Shiram stood on shaky legs, his only saving grace was that his opponent seemed to be staggering as well, two more sharp slashed drawing blood despite not being killing blows, but Shiram had no time, already he’s wasted an hour on this one enemy, an hour where he had no idea what was happening with Loncce and Yurak, no idea where the battle was or who was winning, he was losing blood fast.

He charged, their short combat ending with Shiram stumbling back, a large gash splitting open the bridge of his nose, making breathing harder, no time, just one last attack, standing firm Shiram pointed his sword, his attacker seemed to get the message, adjusting their own position to match his.

Using all his power Shiram dashed forward, as his one arm swung down in a heavy slash his other went up, meeting the enemy’s sharp claws as they pierced his shoulder, becoming stuck as he hit the side of his opponents head hard, he felt his own sword arm become damaged from the sheer force as they tore away from each other, both blinded by pain.

Shiram was on his knees, blindly he reached for his sword but found his arm didn’t move, shaking he looked over blankly to see…he had no arm, the adrenaline kept the pain away as he looked away from the bloody stump to his opponent who had dropped to one knee, blood pouring down as the broken mask fell, revealing…a Galra?! No, it looked like a Galra and….something else; the blow had also shredded the cloak, revealing that his opponent was a woman, as tall and strong as he was, she seemed to hiss in anger as she realized this.

They stared at each other before the woman retreated, Shiram tried to command his body to follow but it refused, exhaustion and blood loss mixed with shock causing him to lose consciousness.

\----------------------------------------------------------

The princes ship was hit just as they entered the wormhole, the shock knocked them both around as the ship spun through the hole, within moments the princes took to holding each other to fend off the rush of inertia flowing through them as their controls went dark, crashing through space. Through the weightless feeling Loncce had a moment of clarity when he saw Yurak curl around him, shielding Loncces body with his own as they crashed against the harsh metal with sickening cracks.

Finally they stopped, the dead ship upside down as it started floating through space, Loncce groaned as he opened his eyes “you okay?” Loncce asked as he dragged himself into a sitting position, upon hearing no response Loncce looked to see Yurak still, worry ran through him as he limped over, checking he let out a relieved breath as he saw the other prince was still breathing, looking over him he saw the nasty burn on his upper arm, and the thin trail of blood coming from his head, cursing Loncce made his way to the emergency medical panel, grabbing bandages he made quick work of wrapping the Galra’s head.

Loncce was pretty familiar since he was frequently hurt as a child, most from his own devices when he took a challenge and proceeded to fail, looking at the bandages Loncce was suddenly hit with another memory, it was with him and a young Yurak.

Loncce had challenged Yurak to a competition, for their final challenge it was to scale the cliffs by the castle, of course Yurak refused until Loncce called him a Kuqiek which spurred the prideful Galra to agree. It started fine, there were plenty of handholds and Loncce had been climbing for years, well it was fine until they got to a height Loncce hadn’t reached yet, the holds were starting to get sparser and Loncces muscles were sore from climbing, but he kept going because Yurak wasn’t stopping.

The young Galra moved with ease, as though he’d done it before, making new handholds with his claws when needed, finally he turned to look down at the struggling Loncce “give up, you’re going to hurt yourself” he warned but instead Loncce just glared at him “never” he challenged, reaching for another hold.

Unfortunately the rock he’d grabbed onto was unstable, Loncces heart failed as he suddenly felt his body separate from the Cliffside, he remembered looking up with surprise at Yurak who matched his look before he fell, he screamed then he couldn’t remember anything. He remembered lying at the bottom of the cliff, head moving to the side he saw Yurak next to him, blood pooling from his head as adults rushed in, shouting in fear.

Loncce blinked as the body bellow him regain consciousness, coughing as Loncce looked down to meet Yuraks golden eyes, after a moment of not knowing what to say Loncce stood up sharply “wake up” he simply said as Yurak groaned, sitting up and holding his head “where are we? Did we make it to Allura’s?” he asked, Loncce looked around “no….I…I don’t know where we are” he said, Yurak furrowed his brows but stood up, unsteady on the glass of the upside down ships cockpit and looked around.

They knew Allura lived in a two star system but this was only a single yellow star, none of the stars looked familiar to either of them as Yurak jumped to reach the controls, holding himself as he tried them “well?” Loncce asked, Yurak knocked on the panel “I don’t know, help me flip us over” he asked, they did so with limited trouble as they both tried the controls, finally Loncce threw up his hands “this you’re your fault” he claimed, Yurak turned to him, equal parts confused and enraged “what!?” he asked, Loncce folded his arms “you heard me, if I were piloting we would have been fine” he said, Yurak glared “if you were piloting we wouldn’t have even made the wormhole, we’d be stuck back on Altea” he countered, Loncce glared at him as well “well at least then we’d know where we were” he finished.

As Loncce turned away Yurak ripped open a panel in anger, he had only basic knowledge of fixing a ship so he needed to try his best as he kneeled down to start poking around while Loncce sulked. After what seemed like an hour Yurak was at a loss, the entire system was fried and parts were even missing, feeling lightheaded he sat down, holding his head.

After a few moments of silence Loncce seemed to notice something

“Hey Yurak…”

“Yes Loncce?”

“Does that planet look closer to you?”

Yurak looked up to see that yes, that blue planet was now filling their view, Yurak stood as he realized it “we’re being dragged in! We’re going to crash!” he figured out, Loncce froze as Yurak climbed under the consol again, trying to figure out how to fix it, or at least patch it together long enough to not kill them.

The closer they got the faster gravity held them, Loncce sat at the consol watching in morbid fascination as he saw the blue turn into green and brown, he was still watching when the controls fluttered to life with Yuraks shout of happiness. Climbing out they both took control but found they didn’t have enough power to pull out so Yurak set them on a crash-landing course, adjusting as they rocketed through the atmosphere, passing clouds as their ship rolled in flames, the sudden change prompted the automatic alert system to relay an SOS signature, before hitting the ground and skipping across the desert rocks, Yuraks grip on the controls slipped so Loncce stepped in, holding the ship straight as it smashed against a hill, stopping its movement.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Pidge liked spending time on the roof of the garrison at night; it reminded her of the times she spent searching for alien signals with Matt, debating the finer points of mechanics between sharing a smuggled bucket of ice-cream between them. Matt had graduated the Garrison two years before Pidge joined, of course she originally meant to go in as herself, Katie Holt but she quickly realized she was unfairly put up with as ‘Matts baby sister’ a title even Matt himself tried to get rid of but it remained, so Katie decided to show them. She entered as Pidge Gunderson, cut her hair and portrayed a boy to prove she was her own person and could succeed.

Pidges fiddling of her deep space scanner was interrupted by a crash from behind her, jumping she turned to see Hunk on his stomach, evidently tripping over a bundle of cords, Hunk joined the same year Pidge had, being chosen as an engineer they really only were kind of friends, they ate together, practiced together and occasionally had conversations about mechanics but they were so different from each other.

Never the less Pidge got up, helping him to his feet as he revealed the container of pudding he’d made, offering to share as they sat together, not really saying much until Pidges scanner whined, dropping her spoon Pidge lurched forward to fiddle with it, Hunk watched her, spoon still in his mouth “what is it?” he asked, Pidge shook her head “I don’t know” finally after fine tuning she heard some sort of language, it sounded like it was saying the same thing but slightly different, different languages? Finally it came in English ‘Altean pod E275 requesting assistance at location---” then gave a set of coordinates, Pidge rushed to write them.

As she did Hunk found his attention being drawn up as his eyes widened, Pidge didn’t notice as she read the coordinates again “I sounds like a distress signal, I wonder…for gods sakes Hunk what is it?” she followed Hunks pointing to see a star getting brighter, she stood, watching it as she reached for her binoculars, finding it and feeling her mouth fall open “its…it’s a ship, it’s an alien ship!” she proclaimed, handing the binoculars to Hunk who looked at it as well, Pidge held her hair shocked “they’re real, intelligent aliens are real!” she laughed, Hunk frowned “uh Pidge? I don’t think ships are supposed to be smoking, or on fire” he said, Pidge grabbed the binoculars again, now closer she saw that yes one of its wings was on fire, “they must be crash-landing” Hunk reasoned.

After a moment Pidge started packing away her things “uh? What are you doing?” Hunk asked, Pidge stood, her equipment back in its bag “we need to look closer, if the garrison gets there before us they’ll lock it down, and I refuse to let this opportunity slip by” she said, taking off running, after a moment of indecisiveness Hunk followed her, still holding his pudding.

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It was actually surprisingly easy to slip into the motor pool, Pidge hacking the security to allow them to take out two bikes, riding out towards were they could see the raising smoke from the impact. , they stopped right on the crest of the hill, looking over at the sleek pod, Hunk just stood there while Pidge moved closer, dismounting carefully as she edged closer despite Hunks scared warnings.

Carefully picking her way around the broken metal she approached the glass, probably a cockpit, after a moment of hesitance she touched it, only to jerk back when it released, letting out a whoosh of pressurized air, reveal the two figures inside, Pidge could see one was more human like with dark skin and hair, he had strange symbols next to his eyes and had pierced ears, the other figure was more animal-like, with catlike ears and purple fur, unfortunately she couldn’t observe anymore as the purple cat one opened his eyes, upon seeing Pidge he started, trying to stand and draw the knife he had but couldn’t as his arm twinged in pain and he fell back, teeth still bared, Pidge stumbled back in alarm.

By now Hunk had crept closer and also fell back with a scream at the attempt to attack, but Pidge thought fast, digging out her machine she removed the headphones and played the message she’d recorded, it seemed to still the alien who looked between them, he spoke in a rough sort of language which neither understood so Pidge held her hand in a peace gesture, she pointed to them then the message being recorded, seemingly asking them if it was theirs, reluctantly he nodded.

It was then the other one seemed to be waking up, the purple one turned and seemed to talk with the other, his tone almost mocking as the other responded in the same tone. They seemed to be at a standstill until Hunk called from the ridge “Pidge! They’re coming, we need to get out of here” he warned her, Pidge nodded as the shout started the purple one, causing him to bare his teeth as Pidge waved her hand to get his attention “no, friend, my friend” she tried but got nothing.

Then the purple one got up, followed by the elfish one, the purple one limped over to the crest to look over, watching the trucks getting closer Pidge looked between them and the approaching garrison, the smart thing was to just leave, get back and pretend nothing even happened, but she couldn’t just leave them at the mercy of the garrison, especially since the purple one looked like a fighter.

Running to her bike Pidge made her decision, shouted to Hunk “come on, we’re giving them a ride!” she yelled, Hunk paled “what! We can’t trust them! They’re aliens” he tried, Pidge shook her head “and they’re injured, I don’t think they mean us harm” waving to get the aliens attention she pointed at the garrison and made shooting sounds and movements, then mimicked dying, the pair seemed to get it as the purple one grabbed his knife.

But Pidge got their attention again and patted the back of her seat, offering it to the aliens who seemed to argue before the elfish one stepped forward, taking Pidges offered hand and sitting behind her, the purple one growled before climbing onto Hunks bike, the earth boy paling even more as they left, just making it far enough that the approaching garrison didn’t spot them.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Yurak felt the air pressure change and it caused him to open his eyes, it took a moment before he registered that the face looking down at him wasn’t Altean, instinct told him to grab his knife and strike but his attempts at putting weight on his left arm failed as it rolled in pain and refused to work, luckily his action was enough to startle the alien back.

Then before Yurak could figure out how to attack he heard the rescue signal, looking he saw the smaller alien holding some sort of radio, paying the message and pointing, understanding Yurak nodded slowly, no longer attacking as he observed his strange…rescuer?

The activity woke Loncce who sat up with a mumble as Yurak turned to him “about time you woke up” he said Loncce glared at him “shut it” he responded before matching eyes with the small alien. “Uh….what’s that?” he asked Yurak shrugged “probably members of this planet and before you ask I don’t think it speaks either of our languages” he said.

Then another voice startled them, filled with fear and loud Yurak immediately bared his teeth in defense but the smaller one warned him off, as if saying don’t attack, so he didn’t, instead getting out and limping over to the crest where he saw the other vehicles coming closer in the night, looking back the smaller one seemed worried, were those enemies?

Then the smaller one made her move, going towards her vehicle and miming shooting and death, so yes, they were definitely enemies, in response he grabbed his knife, ready to fight as Loncce looked between them, weaponless. What surprised them was the smaller one seemed to be inviting them to climb on; probably to escape and hide but Yurak was hesitant.

“Yurak, let’s go” Loncce said, Yurak shook his head “run off into the desert with two aliens we’ve never seen before, can’t talk with, and injured, are you inane?” he asked Loncce looked back at them “but we don’t have a choice, and they seem more trustworthy then what’s coming up” he said, moving to take his place behind the female. Yurak growled in annoyance before marching over to the male and climbing on.

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Yurak didn’t like this, these strange humanoids stoke in a strange language and had a very crude was of sounding, but his brief argument with Loncce had left him with little choice as he mounted the big ones bike, he noticed the big one was nervous around him, often checking back to look at Yurak who pretended not to notice, instead focusing on the surroundings and ahead where Loncce seemed to be enjoying his ride.

Soon enough they stopped in front of a wooden shelter, inside the two looked around as the aliens seemed lost as to what to do, so Yurak made the choice for them, getting their attention he mimed wrapping bandages around the bleeding burn on his limp arm, they seemed to understand and the big one vanished, hopefully to get medical supplies, Loncce collapsed onto the old couch but Yurak remained standing as the small female observed them.

Finally the big one came back, hesitantly holding out a package that Loncce took, revealing bandages and strange ointments, not understanding the ointments and liquids the two just took the bandages to wrap themselves up, Yurak pausing long enough to pop his dislocated shoulder back and having Loncce tie it up.

Once that was done the smaller alien pointed to herself and said a work, after a moment Yurak and Loncce looked at each other before Loncce repeated back “Pidge?” in a stuttering way, the small one nodded happily and pointed to the big one which Loncce tried again “Hunk?” he asked, again the small one…Pidge nodded, signifying he got it right.

This time Yurak thought before pointing to himself “Yurak” he said, when the other pair did manage to say it, it was stilted and didn’t roll properly but he nodded to let them know they were right, then Loncce pointed to himself “Loncce” he said, this one sounded more like Lancce coming from them but it was close enough so Yurak nodded.

Now they knew each other’s names, excellent, then the small-Pidge checked her wrist, speaking to Hunk they got up, Yurak and Loncce did to but Pidge waved them to sit then started to mime leaving while giving them the stay signal. Thinking again she picked up a strange round thing that had three arms moving around, she mimed the big hand going around to a number which they understood meant they’d be coming back at that time, both of then nodded in understanding as the pair left, leaving Yurak and Loncce alone in the strange shelter.

Now the pair could relax, Loncce started first as he took off his armor Yurak looked out the window, Loncce stopped raising an eyebrow “oh come on, you can’t be comfortable in that hunk of junk” he said Yurak scoffed “it’s not about comfort, we’re on an alien planet with no chance of escaping, I’m staying safe” he said, Loncce rolled his eyes “I know for a fact that you’re injured under there, so am I” he indeed lifted his shirt to reveal a dark bruise on his side, Yurak blinked and shifted, but gave in, undoing his own armor, and he had to admit he felt a lot better.

After making rounds to check out the shelter the two found two bedrooms which they claimed, although Yurak didn’t sleep, instead he lightly dozed on the couch; hand on his dagger for protection. When the morning came Yurak woke early, stretching and looking out the window, watching the strange sunrise before wandering some more, he checked for enemies then the time, he still had almost 12 numbers to go until they came back so he needed to kill time.

Looking he found a terminal on a desk, he pressed buttons until it turned on but no amount of touching the screen let him do anything, in his frustration he knocked over the little device next to it, he watched the little while arrow move and picked up the thing again, moving it gently he watched the arrow move, pressing down on one of the buttons opened a little menu and the other did nothing until he clicked a image, opening some sort of search site, curious he looked at the keyboard but found he didn’t recognize any of them.

Frowning he stood back as Loncce finally woke up, walking into the room “morn….oh…it wasn’t a dream” he finished, hands dropping to his side as he realized their situation was real “yeah, yeah its real” Yurak only offered as Loncce sat down, uncharacteristically silent, Yurak found himself wanting to comfort him but he had nothing to say, he still might not like Loncce but at this point they only had each other.

Instead he made himself busy looking around some more, in the room he hadn’t slept in he found a small pile of books, curiously he looked through them, finally opening one that had an image of a wolf like creature with a small word beside it, probably its name….wait! he could check!

Standing he carried the book to the desk where the terminal was still open and waiting, looking between the book and the keyboard he typed three letters and hit enter, after a moment results popped up, showing a similar image to the one in the book, clicking it Yurak looked at the images while Loncce joined in, curious as they learned how to navigate the terminal and type the words into the terminal.

As the day moved on the two princes started learning earth letters, occasionally arguing but figuring out more books as they learned, typing a word and finding the image then do it all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

Shiram first opened his eyes to blinding light and unintelligible words, his entire body was numb but he started to struggle, his words merely fractions until a hand pressed him down, the language around him clearing to Altean “calm down, you are safe” the voice managed to calm down Shiram who closed his eyes against the light, falling back into unconsciousness.

Shiram woke up a few hours later, the lights were dimmed and he blinked hazily as he looked around, seeing the medical bed and an Altean Doctor walking up to him “Shiram! How do you feel?” he asked, Shiram coughed “numb...” he said, the doctor nodded “that’s completely normal after going into the healing capsule after sustaining the amount of damage you did” he said, Shiram blinked “what? What happened?” he asked.

The doctor sighed “we found you in critical condition, your nasal area was completely useless and….you were missing your right arm” Shirams eyes widened as he tried to move his arm, and got nothing, turning his head he saw the wrapped stump, oh, he remembered seeing it before, after the fight.

Shiram lifted his left arm to run his face, stilling at the large, rough patch of scar tissue before realizing something “what happened? Where’s princess Allura? Prince Lotor? The king? Emperor? The princes?” he asked. The doctor scratched the back of his head.

“Princess Allura and Prince Lotor are fine, the princess only received light injuries and seems to have short-term memory loss of everything during the battle, Prince Lotor also had light injuries, both the king and the emperor are uninjured” he reported, Shiram furrowed his brows.

“And the princes? My brother?” he prompted again, the doctor hesitated before giving in “we have reports that the princess escaped through a wormhole but unfortunately didn’t reappear with the rest, and as of now….we have no idea where they are” he said, Shiram felt his arm fall “what!?” but the doctor excused himself.

Now alone Shiram laid back, covering his face as he cursed, he should have gone with them…he should have finished his fight, he shouldn’t have been so stupid.

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The sun had fallen by time Pidge and Hunk had returned to the wooden cabin, they had spent the day in class and searching for any information on what the garrison had found but got nothing, so finally when it was lights out they made their move, sneaking various foods from the cafeteria as they realized the aliens would be hungry, probably.

They packed up their food, borrowed the bikes again and started the drive to the cabin, they knocked before opening the door, revealing Yurak and Loncce sitting at the computer in the corner, Pidge greeted them with a wave which Loncce repeated.

Hunk carried in the pack of food and set it down as Pidge gestured their charges to come forward, again Yurak seemed hesitant but after smelling the food approached after Loncce, Pidge pointed to the now unwrapped food “food’ she said, it was clear they were hungry so they let them eat.

Tonight’s dinner had included chicken, vegetables and a baked potato, so naturally they took a double portion and let Yurak and Loncce eat, it was obvious the two hadn’t had anything resembling earth food as everything they tasted seemed to surprise them, but they did use the utensils provided and ate just like they did, thinking now obviously they were civilized. Hunk also offered them water bottles, after helping them open them of course and Pidge walked over to the computer where she looked at the history and the books piled.

Yurak finished first, standing to watch Pidge as Loncce finished up their dinner. Pidge jumped when she noticed the large alien behind her, stepping to the side as Yurak flipped through the books which she now noticed were all children’s books, he pointed to an image of a non-descript cartoon drawing of a white person then pointed to her and Hunk, as if asking.

Pidge nodded, figuring it out “human” she said, Yurak tried repeating it “human” he said, Pidge nodded, this was ridiculous, they needed to figure out some sort of communication, they seemed smart since they figured out how to use the computer which Pidge suspected was archaic by their standards, but how do they teach English to aliens?

Walking back to Hunk he looked over “what’s up?” he asked Pidge shrugged, frustrated “we need to communicate with them but how?” she asked, Hunk looked between the four of them as he thought before an idea started formulating “hey, so all languages have an alphabet right?” he asked, Pidge rubbed her eyes “yes, technically all languages have an alphabet of some sort” Hunk continued “and the basis of a language in their alphabet so if you learn the alphabet you could start building the basic blocks” he finished, Pidge looked up “what?” she asked.

But Hunk was already on the move, grabbing paper he waved Yurak and Loncce over, he quickly wrote out the alphabet on one paper then once they were paying attention he started writing the pronunciations of each letter, having the two aliens try to pronounce it with him, incredulous Pidge sat next to Hunk “how? What did you think of this?” she asked, Hunk left them with the paper and pen to speak to Pidge “I help my little cousins sometimes, especially when they were just starting to go to school, and I kind of picked it up, I figured it could work here” he explained.

Pidge watched as Yurak and Loncce wrote out things, sounding them out as Pidge smiled “it might work, good job Hunk” she praised, they ended up spending a few hours teaching them the basic alphabet before Yurak and Loncce started doing the same with Altean, they decided teaching Altean was simpler then Galra to teach so they wrote out the alphabet to take with them as they had to leave again, once again Pidge pointed to the same time they would be back and this time Loncce and Yurak saw them off.

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Shiram spent two more hours in the room; he sat up and tried to get over the sudden empty feeling of not having his arm but was still staring at it as his door opened again, revealing Allura in her healing suit, her face immediately dropped in relief as she approached Shiram, hugging him which he awkwardly returned with only one hand. “How are you feeling?” he asked her, Allura smiled “I’m fine, I bit hazy on the details but the doctor said my memory might come back if I just rest…how about you?” she asked.

Shiro let go and looked at where his arm should have been “it’s….hard, but it doesn’t matter, I need to be up and searching for the princes” he said, standing and starting to walk towards the change of clothes folded on a chair, Allura followed him, not happy he was walking around so soon after his injury but helped him dress himself, then followed him out.

While walking Shiram hesitated, looking out the window at a very different planet then Altea “are we at your planet Allura? What happened to Altea?” he asked, Allura sighed “the castle was destroyed and we had to flee, luckily they seemed to be focusing on the castle and haven’t attacked any other citizens, in fact after we all fled they vanished” she explained.

Shiram nodded as they made their way to the war room, opening the door they were greeted by the king, Zarkon, Lotor and a few other generals. Taking his place at the table Shiram greeted them as king Alfor stepped forward “it’s good to have you Shiram, you’ll be happy to know that we have already started development on a replacement arm for you” he said, Shiram nodded to him “thank you sir” he said.

Zarkon gave him a nod as he spoke “we have reports you fought one of the attackers, unfortunately all attackers killed vanished shortly after their death, meaning we have no idea who they were” he said, Shiram thought for a moment “I did sir! I remember seeing my opponent before I blacked out sir” he said, all participants looked surprised, although looking back Lotors face had a hint of anger but he kept silent as Shiram described the attacker to them.

After Shiram revealed the attacker was Galran the room tensed, the Alteans looking towards the Galrans before Zarkon stepped forward “it’s obvious these attackers include vile Half-Galrans, probably cast out of our colonies for their birth” he explained, it made sense.

It was no secret that the Galra preferred pure-blooded Galrans, even if their own crown prince was a hybrid it was not rare for offspring to be excluded from Galra culture, even though it was illegal it wasn’t harshly enforced. So it wouldn’t be far off to assume there were a number of Galra hybrids who would give anything to strike back at the empire and by extension Altea.

The room was silent until Lotor spoke “our next objective is to find the princes, according to the reports they went through a wormhole but since they didn’t reappear here that means they might have been knocked out somewhere between us and Altea” he suggested, they pulled up a map and highlighted the space between Altea and Allura and Lotors home of Bessuth.

“that’s a lot of areas to search” a general said, there were approximately over a thousand different planets and an untold number of other celestial bodies that they could have crashed on. Then Alfor pulled up a list of friendly planets “we can start by asking our allies for assistance in searching, they know the area more than we do, and we need more forces to search” he explained, everyone nodded their agreement. The next task was to search for the attackers, but with so little evidence and clues they very quickly hit a wall, so they broke apart to start the search project, caring for their displaced guests, and otherwise healing.

As she was walking away to look over her people Allura was about to turn a corner when she heard Lotors voice but for some reason her blood froze, her body refused to move forward, something deep in her mind warned her of danger. But why? It was just Lotor, her wonderful, noble husband. Her breathing sped up until she backpedaled away, calming down as soon as she was clear from his bold voice; confused and newly tired Allura decided to just retire for now.

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By time morning came Yurak woke again very early from his place on the couch, sitting up he stretched his body, grunting in pain as his bruises and shoulder ached. Standing he again watched the sunrise, enjoying how for part of it, it was the same intense red of his home planets sun; it was just a little bit of normalcy in this mess.

Normalcy….what would normal be now? Right now he’d probably be back on the capital ship, working his energy off with Shiram by sparring, going back to his classes and training to improve himself, he’d pretend that in only a few months he wouldn’t be married to an Altean…to Loncce.

His attempt to rub his head was stilled as he hissed when he touched his head bandages, oh right, they were applied by Loncce when they were in the ship, funny, it reminded him of the cliff incident, he still remembered the empty feeling in his body as he saw Loncce fall, his instinct had activated and he jumped, but he remembered he had a bad head injury so the ideas were fuzzy, maybe he hadn’t jumped, maybe he’d fallen too.

Loncce too was up in the other room, sitting on the old bed with his legs folded up, watching the sunrise as well, he missed Allura, he missed his father, and he missed his home. He was so frustrated, stuck in a strange world with his only companion being Yurak of all people, he was just thankful the Galra was being less of a dick then he usually was.

It wasn’t long however before Loncce started getting bored, walking out of the room he hesitated, seeing Yurak at the table with a container of chicken from last night, he was reading over the alphabet Hunk had given them, it looked…out of place, when they were younger Yurak just stuffed whatever he could into his mouth then run off to his morning lessons, it looked almost…domestic.

Yurak jumped when he heard a thud behind him, turning around he saw Loncce with his face scrunched up, book in hand and holding a red mark on his forehead “uh? You okay?” he asked, Loncce just threw the book back on the desk “yes, fuck you” he said, sitting down as Yurak raised an eyebrow but didn’t take the bait, instead he nudged the chicken towards Loncce. Yurak had already copied the alphabet so he took his copy and walked towards the terminal again to type in more things, putting random letters together to see what they made.

Loncce just sighed and looked over his own copy, he didn’t want to but what else was there to do? Plus he did need to talk to their rescuers, so he dug in his feet and practiced the syllables. He did this until he head fell on the desk with a groan, looking over he saw the terminal empty, curious Loncce picked his head up, now where did that idiot go?

His attention was drawn outside, walking towards the window he saw Yurak practicing his sword skills, they were just thrusts and parries, sharpening any skills dulled by the few days he didn’t practice, it went fine until he extended his injured arm by habit, stumbling as pain blinded him, Loncce perked up, ready to jump in as Yurak grit his teeth, steeling himself against the pain.

Again Loncce backed away, of course he didn’t need to help Yurak, and he was perfectly fine handling himself against pain….plus what did he care? Unknown to him Yurak saw him vanish back into the cabin, still holding his arm close he flexed it, it should be okay in another day as long as he didn’t reinjure it, god how he wanted a healing pod, then he wouldn’t he in pain, he’d just go in for an hour and come out line, of course he also wanted to be able to talk to someone else, have his own military fleet, have no worries and not marry anyone by force but whatever, no use wanting what he couldn’t have.

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Much like last night Hunk and Pidge came again, again they brought dinner but this time Pidge was carrying a device, she had put in for a sick day to finish tearing apart and reprogramming her deep space scanner to incorporate the alphabet Yurak and Loncce had given her and their own English Alphabet and hopefully create a passable translator.

So they sat at the table, sending a prayer to no one Pidge turned on the device “hello? Can you understand me?” she spoke into the mic, after a second it came out the speaker in a stuttering language, but it seemed right as Loncce reached for the mic on his side “yes! Yes, can you understand me?” he asked, it came out in imperfect English so Pidge cheered, she had actually made a real translator and was speaking with real aliens.

Once she’d finally calmed down and Hunk had congratulated her Yurak spoke up “it’s nice to finally be able to talk, but we need to know where we are” he said, Pidge reached into her bag to pull out a star map, pointing to earth “we’re on earth” she said both Yurak and Loncce looked confused “we’ve never seen this star system before” he said, Pidge looked back at the map as Loncce took a paper, drawing a very rough sketch of both Altea’s and Daibazaal’s galaxies as well as several over between them.

Pidge and Hunk looked over it, asking occasionally about names that were written in Altean, they also came to the conclusion that he didn’t know any of those systems either, which probably meant they were impossibly far from one another.

Next Pidge couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked them how they’d crashed. This caused hesitance for Yurak and Loncce before Loncce spoke “we were attacked during a ceremony, Yurak and I escaped through a wormhole but for some reason we didn’t come out on my sisters planet like we were supposed to” he said.

Hunk looked up “you have a sister?” he asked, Loncce nodded “princess Allura, she’s married to-“ but Loncce wasn’t able to talk anymore as both Pidge and Hunk gasped, starling him as Pidge spoke “princess? Does that mean you’re a prince?!” she asked, Loncce nodded slowly “we both are…” he said, he actually flinched back at their gasps of surprise, tears prickling Hunks eyes as he spoke “we’re so sorry, we didn’t know we were speaking with royalty, please don’t kill us” he begged.

Yurak and Loncce looked at each other in disbelief before Yurak spoke “no don’t grovel or….” But Hunk had started blubbering so Yurak felt annoyance build “SHUT UP! WE ARE NOT GOING TO KILL YOU” he shouted, starting Hunk into silence, no one spoke for several minutes until Pidge did “so…you guys are princes?” she asked.

Yurak sighed “yes, I’m prince Yurak of the Galra Empire, he’s prince Loncce of the Alteans” he said, Pidge and Hunk looked at each other before Hunk spoke again “so you’re not the same species?” he asked, both Yurak and Loncce had offended looks on their faces as Loncce grabbed the mic “of course we’re not the same, are you blind?” he demanded, Pidge put up her hands “well excuse me prince, but we’ve never seen aliens before” she said.

They spent an hour describing the differences between Galrans and Alteans until Yurak asked them about the terminal or computer as they called it, Pidge suggested they use it for learning and opened some kindergarten level programs to teach them spelling after Yurak assured them they could do it. Finally Pidge and Hunk had to go again. They spared some time to teach them their time system, got in a debate over it, and then left, leaving the princes to study the rest of their work.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Zircell was not an inhabited planet, according to all sources its constant tectonic shifting and intense temperature fluxuations made any kind of buildings only last for half a year before being destroyed by a sudden crevice opening underneath it, but what they didn’t know was that it was the perfect place to live unseen, undetected.

The ship was settled on a heat baked plane between two cracks with boiling lava slowly flowing past. On the ship a small group of people stood, each clad in black robes and a blank white mask, five stood in a semi circle with a sixth standing on a raised platform as they looked at a moving star map, raising a finger the head figure called one of the five forward, letting them kneel “Baron Avien, we have reports our attack force was successful in separating the princes” the head figure nodded mutely as the member continued.

“thanks to our disruptor the princes ship has been rerouted to a distant planet…” the Baron lifted his head at how the member trailed off, despite not having visible eyes the Baron seemed to stare deep into the members soul who shuttered “we lost track of them beyond the 7th quadrant and….we haven’t found the-“ the member didn’t get to finish their report as something shiny darted out from under the Barons robe, a long, metallic tail wrapped around the members throat, cutting off air supply until the member slumped, still breathing but unconscious, slowly the tail retreated under the robes again as the Baron made a series of gestured with their gloved hand, instructing two attendants to drag out the unconscious member as the rest averted their eyes.

With that handled the Baron waved for a second member to approach “but prince Lotor has informed us that they suspect nothing and that they themselves are starting the search, he suggests we acquire information from them” this seemed to please the Baron as a flick of his finger let the member retreat back into the circle.

The Baron was silent before dismissing the circle with a wave of his hand, himself walking over to a wide backed chair and sitting, staring out the window at the roiling landscape before him.

\----------------------------------------------------------

It’s been a week, Shiram was starting at the calendar on his wall reproachfully, and it’s been one full week since the attack, since his brother and future brother-in-law were thrown into some unknown situation, and what killed Shiram the most was not knowing, where they injured? Safe? Where they on their way back? Dead? He didn’t know and it made him want to throw something. Sparring helped but there was only so many times he could destroy robots before it no longer worked.

But as always Shiram put it aside, thinking negatively helped no one, so he got ready, already learning how to work with only one arm, if only temporarily. Just as he was buttoning his shirt up a knock sounded at his door, welcoming them in he wasn’t surprised to find Allura standing there, already dressed as well and for all intents and purposes doing fine.

However Shiram had it his life to be observant, it helped in battles, in dealing with Yuraks mood swings and now helped him see how destroyed Allura was, the usual spark gone from her eye “sleep well?” he asked, Allura nodded, smile not really reaching her eyes “yes, as well as can be expected” she said before they lapsed into silence.

Finally Allura spoke again “are you heading to the war room again?” she asked, Shiram had spent virtually every hour of every day in the war room, watching the tracking dots of squadrons as they conducted their searches, his heart no longer surging each time they called to report nothing. Shiram nodded and Allura spoke again “want to walk with me?” she asked, Shiram again nodded “of course princess” he said, and then left with Allura, aware something was up but respecting Allura.

As they entered the war room they were greeted with the Kings and emperors grim faces, Shirams heart sank as he greeted them “sirs….what happened?” he asked, already dread clenched his chest as the king placed a comforting hand on Shirams shoulder “I’m afraid there’s been a majorincident in the Delnith system, a star has gone supernova and has destroyed and displaced much of the galaxy, we’re rerouted the bulk of our forces to assisting in relief efforts…” he said Shiram blinked slowly “but we’re still searching for the princes and the attackers right?” he asked.

The emperor spoke this time “yes but we have both agreed that the star in a more pressing need, as such we have moved-“ Shiram didn’t hear the rest, how they’d divided the main search force into two with the search force now becoming less than 10% of what it was before, he didn’t even know how he accepted his dismissal, walking past Allura who herself had tears welling as she heard.

Out in the hall Shiram felt his back hit the castles wall before his shaking legs collapsed, lowering his body to the ground as he tried to rationalize it, of course the lives of many outweighed the few but…these weren’t just any people, not only were they the princes but it was Shirams brother, the little purple fluff ball he used to have running after him, mimicking everything young Shiram did, lifting his brothers practice sword with determination and sitting on his bed, trying to stay up while Shiram studied.

In his fugue Shiram felt another weight at his side; faintly he recognized it as Allura but didn’t feel her arms going around his shoulders, hiding her wet face in his shoulder.

A few hours later saw Shiram in the secondary war room where his measly search forces were starting a new search pattern, this time he was the commander, no longer waiting for directions from his father or king Alfor he stood firm, on the terminal next to him Allura was helping led the search for the attackers, going over everything twice.

Things were silent until the door slid open, revealing Lotor standing there with a sympathetic look on his face, first he walked over to greet Allura with a kiss before joining Shiram at the holo-map “anything?” he asked, Shiram shook his head, not saying anything as he patted Shirams shoulder apologetically and waling over to join Allura.

Allura found herself sinking into Lotors arms when they wrapped around her, the warmth releasing the tension she hadn’t known she was carrying as she closed her tired eyes, but Lotor had his eyes on a screen, face morphing in curiosity as he reached to navigate towards it, Allura blinked her eyes open to watch as she noticed the discrepancy as well.

“Shiram, take a look at this” Lotor asked, Shiram was quick to walk over “what is it?” he asked, Allura pointed to the screen “this, I thought it was just white noise but look, its repeating” she said, Shiram looked closer “what do we think it is?” he asked, Lotor looked over at him “I thought maybe, it looks like a wormhole but different, like the original code was changed” he said.

Alluras eyes widened “what if that’s how? They changed the code!” she exclaimed, both Galrans looked at her for clarification “it’s obvious they the princes were disrupted partway through their trip, what if they changed the exit to another area?” she suggested, Shiram felt his shoulders drop “that means they could be anywhere” he realized but Allura shook her head “no, I think if we reverse the programming we could find a general location where they were dropped in” she figured out.

Shiram felt his heart finally fluttering “can you do it?” he asked, Allura hesitated but Lotor stepped in “we can make at least rudimentary program, meanwhile we can work on getting more qualified individuals to work on it” he said Shiram nodded “then let’s get on it”.

\----------------------------------------------------------

A week was a lot of time to stay in the same building doing exactly the same things, Yuraks whole body ached with a need to do something, he was fully healed and ready to do anything other than stare at the computer all day, he had taken to exploring the area but since it all the same dirt and hills he very quickly lost interest, and it was becoming apparent as he started snapping more at Loncce and in turn Loncce snapped right back, as fed up as he was.

So that evening when Hunk and Pidge showed up Yurak spoke to them about it, now both Yurak and Loncce had picked up enough English to not need the translator to talk to Hunk and Pidge, so as they ate Yurak brought up the topic, asking about the investigation.

A day or two ago Yurak and Loncce had asked about their ship, or communications, anything to get up and going since as much as they appreciated Pidge and Hunks hospitality they needed to get back home, to see for themselves what happened during and after the attack.

Unfortunately Pidge and Hunk reported that their ship was under heavy lockdown that they couldn’t break, and the deep space scanner turned translator didn’t have enough power to send messages further then maybe Saturn. All in all they were effectively marooned until they either retrieved their ship or could contact their people.

Hearing this Loncce groaned loudly “well can we at least leave the cabin?” he asked, both Hunk and Pidge looked at each other “the problem is, you guys don’t look human so the second someone sees you they’ll immediately know” Pidge said, Loncce snapped his fingers “I can shapeshift!” he exclaimed, both Hunk and Pidge looked at him “what?” Hunk asked, Loncce stood with a wide grin.

Within moments he had changed his appearance, dulling his ears he loked just like a normal human of…ambiguous descent, maybe Hispanic. Hunk just watced in open mouthed surprise as Pdges eyes lit up, immediately jumping to poke at him “how did you do that? Is it physical? Can you change anything?” she asked.

Loncce placated her before Hunk turned to Yurak curiously “can you do that too?” he asked, Yurak looked apprehensive for a moment, weighing his options “if we can look human, we can walk around right?” he asked for clarification, both of them nodded so he sighed “it’s not…like his but…” he started before shifting, fur retreating and ears migrating until he looked exactly like a mulleted human, his eyes looked strange but human enough as he folded his arms, again Pidge wanted to jump at him but a warning through bated teeth caused her to restrain herself as Loncce looked on curiously “I didn’t know Galra could do that!” he exclaimed, Yurak blushed a bit “most Galra can’t….as far as I know only Shiram and I can do it” he explained.

The final piece for the night was choosing human names, Pidge and Hunk took turns suggesting names until finally they decided it would be simplest to just change Loncces name to Lance, but they were stuck on Yuraks name until he remembered the paper he found a few days ago, it had multiple names written then crossed out until it left just one ‘Keith’, it was as good as another he decided.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Finally the program was done; it had moved the search area almost halfway across from their region, encompassing several galaxies and hundreds of planets and other celestial objects.  It was promising so the group to it to their fathers and the generals but they were shot down as the star crisis had taken a turn for the worse, resulting in them pulling all non essential ships to help, leaving them stranded.

Shiram threw a pen against the wall in anger after their fathers had left, his anger needing a vent while Allura sat dejected and Lotor leaned against the door, both just as upset. After a moment Allura looked up “we can’t just sit here, not while Loncce and Yurak are out there” she said, both men agreed with her but what could they do? They might be royalty but their fathers called the shots.

Lotor seemed to think for a moment “what if we went ourselves?” he asked, seeing both figures looking up at him so he continued “we have a personal ship here, we could just go and look ourselves until we can get more forces to join us” he suggested, Shiram though a second before nodding slowly “we can, we should” he agreed.

It was then Shiram got a call to visit the medical bay so he made his decision “go get the ship ready, I’ll join you guys in a second” he said before leaving. Once Shiram was gone a jolt went through Allura, like a flinch as she realized she was alone with Lotor, her heart sped up as he came closer, kissing her on her forehead before leaving, Allura was still so confused, she was reacting as though Lotor had hurt her but he hadn’t right? He saved her…

An hour later both Lotor and Allura were waiting by the ship, they went over a few last minute things before they heard Shiram coming up, they turned to greet him but stopped, the Galran prince stood proudly, holding his new, shiny bionic arm, it gave Allura a sense of comfort as they set off.


End file.
